edenfalling | unhelpful book review of "Daughter of the Blood"

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So last night I read Daughter of the Blood, the first book in Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy. And while on a technical level I can see a number of flaws in the plot structure, the characterization, and the world-building, and I doubt it will be one of my eternal favorites, Oh My God does it make an impact on initial reading.

It reminds me, to some degree, of the Anita Blake series before that degenerated into soft porn, or a lesser version of C. S. Friedman's Coldfire trilogy (which Cat and I affectionately refer to as the Sadistic trilogy, because Jesus fuck, it's nasty and dark and socks you in the gut).

And the library does not have books two and three.

Damnit.

Am hitting the used and new bookstores this weekend.

Current Mood: impressed

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From:

askerian

OMG YOU'VE READ COLDFIRE-- ahem. I mean -- uhm. yeah.

*goes away*

From:

edenfalling

They are fun books, aren't they?

From:

erised1810.livejournal.com

wher do yo uadviceme to stop readign the anita blake books?
i've had enmoug h'surprises' withthe earth's children alreadyand i want to know when it stops beign interesting fantasy this tiime..lol.
I thik i've gatherd alot of boks that are not for me so to speak. sais the oen who doesnt' liek darkfic and has a lot of vampire stories i nteh qeue.

From:

edenfalling

Um, the first several are all quite good (yes, kind of dark and there's a lot of blood and death, but well-written). Then several of the choices made in earlier books come back and bite Anita & company in the ass and there starts being quite a lot more attention paid to Anita's sex life.

I'm trying to remember the titles now: Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, The Lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, The Killing Dance, Burnt Offerings, Blue Moon, Obsidian Butterfly, Narcissus in Chains, Incubus Dreams... I may be forgetting one, but I can't think where.

Anyway, Narcissus in Chains and Incubus Dreams aren't all that good compared to the rest. Obsidian Butterfly has started to get into the oogy bits, but as it takes Anita away from St. Louis and finally gives actual background on Edward (you must love Edward; it's a rule), I wouldn't skip it. So basically I'd read through Obsidian Butterfly, and continue only if you, like me, really do need to know what happens next to Anita. Because I do have that need, and it irritates me that the last couple books haven't been living up to their potential. :-(

From:

erised1810.livejournal.com

O h ican handle I think. I've read soem of anne rice's books. I have nogu hdark fantasy here fora reason...aparently .adn after the femmeslahs fic where two 12-year-old posesse kids wer makign love in afreeze-framed bedi thikn books cant' squick me much further. :P

htose are al lthe oensI have though. Any othe reccommendations then?

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unhelpful book review of "Daughter of the Blood"

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